Digicel MyCash is Sagicor SWYPE powered by MasterCard on their 4G LTE Network

“We at Sagicor, along with our partners, Digicel Group (through its subsidiary Prism Services Jamaica) and Mastercard, are delighted to be providing this innovative and unprecedented level of customer convenience to our Jamaican consumers, both here at home and in the USA; MyCash is not only revolutionary in how it works, but the beauty of this product is that it is suitable for everyone”

President and CEO of Sagicor Group Jamaica , Christopher Zacca, commenting on the launch of Digicel MyCash.

The long awaited coming of Mobile money from Digicel has finally happened.

Their Digicel Money Prepaid MasterCard is to be called MyCash, was officially launched on Monday August 27 2018 as reported in the article “Sagicor Bank Joins Digicel Group, Mastercard For Official Launch Of MyCash”, published Monday August 27, 2018, The Jamaica Gleaner.

The Digicel Money Prepaid MasterCard and app paired with the card for subscribers, will be powered by Master card and have local support from Sagicor through its subsidiary Prism Services Jamaica . It'll allow subscribers to utilize the product in multiple countries via ATMs, technically making it the first Mobile Money product launched in Jamaica that can be used abroad.

Digicel will become the third local mobile money provider alongside Quisk from NCB and GK MPay from GraceKennedy. Both GK MPay and Quisk are mainly being used to purchase phone credit as I'd pointed out in my Geezam blog article entitled “How to get Jamaicans to use Quisk, GK MPay for more than just Phone Credit”.

This is a long time coming for Digicel, who have been hinting at plans to launch a Mobile money platform for some time as reported in my blog article entitled “Why Digicel's purchase of Paymaster means Mobile Money is launching in 2016”.

In that article, I had projected a launch of the product in 2016, possibly as a push into bill payment in partnership with Paymaster.

Curiously, Sagicor had already launched their own product powered by Master card called SWYPE as I'd pointed out in my blog article entitled “How Sagicor Bank's SWYPE challenges QUISK, GK MPay for Mobile Money Dominance”.

Now they've partnered with some different players, with Sagicor a newcomer to the Mobile Money platform with SWYPE.

So what exactly is MyCash?

Digicel launches MyCash - Powered by MasterCard

Digicel is by no means a new player to Mobile money.

They already have a successful services in operation in Haiti called Tcho Tcho Mobile powered by Scotia Bank. Back then in 2014, then CEO Denis O' Brien had hinted at a similar service for Jamaica as noted in my blog article entitled “Digicel's Mobile Money Service in 2014 - Haiti Tcho Tcho with ScotiaBank heralds Cashless Society by 2015”.

MasterCard is also making their presence felt in Jamaica, with a partnership with Alliance Group of Companies to power their Alliance Prepaid MasterCard that may empower children with their own card as predicted in my blog article entitled “How Alliance Prepaid MasterCard makes Electronic Transactions for Children and Moneygram e-commerce possible”.

MasterCard is quite keen on getting into Jamaica as their rival VISa is already visible all over the island, to quote Territory Manager for the Caribbean at MasterCard, Marcelo Tangioni: “We are glad to offer the power of our network, the strength of our brand and our technology expertise to help bringing this project to life”.

Digicel initially planned to launch its Jamaican card in April 2017. But regulatory issues with the BOJ (Bank of Jamaica) means that they had to reign in their plans that have been circulating since 2014.

However, BOJ Senior Deputy Governor John Robinson confirmed on Thursday August 16th 2018 that the central bank has given approval for Sagicor Bank, in partnership with Digicel, to offer an electronic retail payment service card.

Now they are finally ready and they sound very organized, especially as they are partnering with Sagicor and MasterCard and already have a mobile money app as reported in the article “Sagicor Partners With Digicel To Roll Out Mobile Money App”, Published Friday August 17, 2018, by Avia Collinder, The Jamaica Gleaner.

So is MyCash a rebranding of SWYPE?

Digicel and Sagicor - MyCash rebranding a boost to Sagicor SWYPE

Digicel and Sagicor's aim is to make MyCash a universal card that can work at any ATM as well as suit the Jamaican travelled.

So says Digicel Jamaica's spokesman, Elon Parkinson, quote: “With a shared vision of breaking down the barriers to financial inclusion, Sagicor Bank, Digicel and MasterCard have been working together to deliver a mobile money service that will meet the specific needs and requirements of our Jamaican consumers”.

To apply for a MyCash prepaid Mastercard, Jamaican customer have to do the following:

1. Download the MyCash app
2. Register via the MyCash App
3. Visit any of the 16 Sagicor branches island-wide to validate their ID
4. Collect their MyCash card
5. Add cash to the card

MyCash has been successfully piloted over the last few months and is now available to the public. There are minimal transaction fees but MyCash is the first of its kind in the market as it boasts the following features:

1. No sign-up fees
2. No need for a bank account
3. No tedious application form
4. No credit-checks

The MyCash product, which will come to market before December 2018, will allows customers to do the following:

1. Send and receive money locally
2. Check account balances
3. Shop
4. Cash transactions at ATMs

Sounds familiar? it should, as that's the same thing that SWYPE was aiming to do as noted in my blog article entitled “How Sagicor Bank's SWYPE challenges QUISK, GK MPay for Mobile Money Dominance”.

Digicel MyCard may well be a rebranding of Sagicor's SWYPE; very little advertising has been done by Sagicor since they launched SWYPE. I suspect Sagicor is afraid they may end up going the way of CONEC Mobile, the JCCUL (Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League).

The JCCUL, the original pioneer of Mobile Money in Jamaica, launched in 2013 and rebranded as JCUES and then CONEC, as reported in my blog article entitled “JCUES now CONEC Mobile Wallet - Why CONEC Mobile Wallet still inconvenient despite Paymaster”.

It suffered from having a cumbersome website interface and an app that did not work reliably. So it died in December 2017 due to these factors as well as a lack of proper marketing as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “JCCUL Shutters CONEC Mobile Wallet, leaving Quisk and MPay in the Race”.

So their management may have decided to just partner with Digicel, especially as their MPOS (Mobile Point of Sale) device needs a reliable 4G LTE ready telecom infrastructure and Digicel is the best partner to have, both as a platform as well as an advertising partner!

Hopefully they will include doing e-commerce and shopping online, something that seems to be missing from other entrants into the Mobile Money space.